Yesterday I was pulled up by police and told to get off my bicycle because I didn’t have a helmet. I was riding on the footpath. I can make my own safety judgement in every other country but not in Australia (and NZ). Why is safety being used to justify arbitrary laws in this country? What is being done to stop rights of individuals being eroded under the guise of safety?
– Geoff McLeod, Brisbane
Geoff, exactly the same thing happened to me, on the footpath outside my house. I was told next time I’d pay a fine. This requirement has indeed helped heart disease and obesity because it is an extra hurdle to get on a push bike. It is even law in remote outback towns. Yet, as you point out, it is a restriction of the human rights of free movement and is only recently being applied in a select few countries. The wider issue of safety being used to justify not-so-arbitrary (revenue collecting/litigation protecting) laws and also traffic codes really does need focus as well as the larger issue of “anti-terror” laws that gives victory to terrorists by taking away our freedoms in spite of the minute chances of becoming a victim.